Day After Red Sox Take Volstad to School, Pitcher Visits Harvard

BOSTON -- Another gorgeous day in New England, where Fenway Park will welcome its 500th consecutive sellout crowd tonight when the Red Sox host the Marlins. One of the things that always amazes me about this place is the huge number of fans who pay $12 to take the Fenway tour each day.

One day after being spanked around by the Red Sox, Marlins pitcher Chris Volstad toured Harvard's campus in nearby Cambridge with his family on Wednesday. Volstad said he was contacted by the Ivy League school when he was a high school junior to assess his interest in attending Harvard and playing baseball for the Crimson. Volstad had the grades -- a 3.8 GPA and 1290 SAT -- but signed with the University of Miami as a fallback in case he didn't sign a pro contract.

Asked what he would have majored in had he gone to Harvard, Volstad replied: "Something I could pass. I would have taken the easiest thing they had."

Wes Helms: No Hall of Fame for PED Users

Wes Helms, a steady but unspectacular performer over 11 major league seasons, doesn't envision himself landing in baseball's Hall of Fame once his playing days are over. But neither does he want to see those who used performance-enhancing drugs get in, either.

"My opinion is I don't think a guy should be allowed in the Hall of Fame if he did it (used performance-enhancing drugs)," Helms said. "The Hall of Fame is baseball, and if you let guys like that in the Hall of Fame, it makes our kids think that 'If they did it, I should.' And that's the last thing we want."

Helms, a backup infielder for the Marlins, said the Hall of Fame ban should apply only when there is "100 percent proof" that a player used steroids.

"It's sad," Helms said Wednesday, one day following a newspaper report that Sammy Sosa tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug in 2003. "It's one of those things to where you can't judge until you know it's true. But these guys who have come out and said they did it, or have been caught and admitted it, yeah. Everybody makes mistakes. But when it comes to an award like the Hall of Fame, you've got to count them out."